Pastured Poultry Research: Feed Conversion, Labor, and Nutrition
Release Date: 03/13/2020
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Pastured Poultry Flocks
Pastured Poultry Talk
I have a conversation with Chrislyn Wood, DVM, about the threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and pasture raised flocks. Dr. Wood is a veterinarian with USDA APHIS and she is involved first hand with HPAI monitoring and response efforts. We cover a lot of ground, including historical observations, risk assessment, disease identification, and prevention.
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The Days of Wholesale Pastured Chickens are Over for Greg Gunthorp
Pastured Poultry Talk
Greg Gunthorp joins the show to talk about his decision to step away from pasture raised chickens. Covid plays into the story, of course, but the challenges started long before this virus came to be front page news.
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Turning a 20 year chicken hobby into a farm with Cynthia Capers
Pastured Poultry Talk
Cynthia Capers, Heniscity Farm in Tennessee, shares her 20+ year journey from hobby chicken keeper to farm. Twenty years ago, the sight of six Black Australorps brought tears to her eyes. Today, she's serving her community through egg sales, chick sales, and pullet sales.
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PPT114 - Small Layer Flock Profitability
Pastured Poultry Talk
I answer a listener question, "How can I make my small laying hen flock more profitable?" With feedback from the community, insights from The Fighting Farmer, and personal experience, we dive deep into ways to prosper from your small flock of laying hens.
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Perdue Acquires Pasturebird
Pastured Poultry Talk
Perdue acquires Pasturebird and becomes the biggest producer in the space. I unpack what it means on this episode and walk through some history.
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Maintain Production with All In/All Out Rotation for 5,000 laying hens
Pastured Poultry Talk
Listener Chris asks how to utilize an all-in/all-out pullet replacement strategy without duplicating infrastructure while maintaining egg production. To help answer the question, I share insights from Mark Harrison and Dave and Ginger Shields.
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Community Q&A Plus a Monologue on Heritage Poultry's Role in Pastured (PPT109)
Pastured Poultry Talk
I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation. If you want to watch a replay of the stream, find it on . Before we work into the questions, I offer some thoughts on heritage poultry's potential role in pastured community. APPPA has recently started to focus on breeding specific topics and offers monthly livestreams on breeding. Check out . We cover a...
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Feed Management Tips to Reduce Waste & Maintain Egg Production
Pastured Poultry Talk
In Pastured Poultry Talk episode 110, farmer Matt Steinman discussed how he used fermented feed as a solution to waste and fines. While fermentation can be a viable solution for some people, it's not the only way to deal with fines. This episode unpacks those options.
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Is Fermented Feed Worth the Time for 1,000 hens?
Pastured Poultry Talk
Farmer Matt Steinman (Foothills Farm in Sedro-Woolley, Washington) and Dr. Louisa Brouwer (technical advisor on the trial) share the results of a SARE-funded trial that sought to understand the economic impacts of feeding fermented feed to laying hens. The trial compared a dry feed, wet feed, and a fermented feed and then determined the net difference across to the bottom line.
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Community Q&A PIus a Heritage Poultry Monologue
Pastured Poultry Talk
I close out the pastured poultry training series with a live streamed Q&A between Terrell Spencer from The Fighting Farmer and myself. We went live on Facebook and fielded questions from our listeners, and this episode of the podcast includes an edited version of that conversation
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There is no secret that pasture-raised chicken meat is more nutrient dense than non-pasture-raised chicken. More and more farmers are testing their products and posting the results for their customers and the world to see. Randy Kleinman, who farms with his family on Seelye Brook Farms in Anoka County Minnesota ran a two year study that compared a daily move chicken tractor to a day range chicken tractor. Over the course of the trial, he recorded key production numbers, including feed conversion, labor, and nutrition.
The study was funded by a 2019 Minnesota Department of Agriculture AGRI Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant award. The first year of the trial compared a spring and fall batch of Cornish cross and the second year compared a spring and fall batch of Freedom Rangers. Each season collected data relevant to the production method. Randy designed the trial so that each production method would forage on the same amount of pasture over the course of the batch.
The results
Key takeaways from trial:
- Day range systems require more labor.
- Chicken tractor birds had less fat than day range birds.
- Cornish cross had less fat than the Freedom Rangers.
- The pastured birds are a source of Vitamin E whereas the non pastured birds are not.
- Cholesterol in each the pasture-raised birds was higher than the USDA index.
- Pasture-raised chicken meat is not a source of Vitamin A.
- The pastured meat birds had significantly lower Omega 6:3 rations than USDA standard nutritional index. Samples included the thigh and breast.
Randy discusses the trial, setup, and results in more depth in the podcast episode. His findings track very closely with the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association nutrition study.